By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | A tone of triumph and hope characterized a forum of academic, nonprofit and governmental leaders held Monday at the University of New Orleans to mark the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Yet despite the overall positive message, concern about the city’s shrinking black middle and upper class […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
City bulldozes Gert Town neighborhood pool but without securing committee's OK
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Ignoring a committee’s request for more information about redevelopment plans, the Landrieu administration on Monday bulldozed the Gert Town Pool. The pool, housed within a distinctive geodesic dome, was owned and, until Katrina, operated by the city on property owned by Xavier University. Xavier representatives were not […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
On this anniversary, it was a good idea to not keep things bottled up
Two months after hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood, I drove back to the Broadmoor neighborhood to gut my house. Slaloming around debris, I became overwhelmed with cognitive dissonance. The new imprints on my senses didn’t jibe with my old memories of home. For instance, all the pleasant greens were now desolate browns. The fragrant […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Catch Rising Tide VI on webcast
Rising Tide, the annual conference for New Orleans bloggers and others interested in the not-so-new-anymore media takes place Saturday. If you can’t make it to Xavier’s University Center, you can watch the webcast here. For those who can make it, the staff of The Lens would love to talk with you. Stop by our table […]
Posted inOpinion
Feds question handling of houses transplanted from hospital footprint
Photo courtesy of insidethefootprint.blogspot.com By Karen Gadbois, The Lens opinion writer | It’s no longer just those fussbudget New Orleans preservationists who are concerned. A federal agency has weighed in on the treatment of old houses being moved to make way for the giant LSU/VA medical complex. “It has come to the attention of the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations
Drivers rejoice: FEMA and city find a way to start fixing neighborhood streets damaged by Katrina floodwaters
Tens of millions of new federal dollars are about flow into neighborhoods to fix one of the least sexy but most widely felt problem since Hurricane Katrina: The streets we love to hate.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics, Schools
Juvenile jail to stand just across the street from relocated McDonogh 35 High School
By Steve Beatty, The Lens staff writer | Despite concerns from some neighbors, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said this week that the city will rebuild its juvenile jail where it now stands – right across from a city playground and the site of a planned high school in the Bayou St. John area. Landrieu said the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Corporations are candidates, too — so let’s see those logos
Last week at the Iowa State Fair, Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney told an audience that “corporations are people.” Some in the crowd scoffed at the claim, but that’s a silly reaction since the proof was standing there on stage, speaking to them. I mean, what more evidence does Romney have to show these doubting Iowans to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Jo Ellen Smith announcement was premature, though School Board hopes to buy site
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer | City officials were quick to announce the sale of Jo Ellen Smith hospital to the Algiers community at a public meeting last week – but the Orleans Parish School Board says it hasn’t quite made the deal yet. Councilwoman Kristin Giselson Palmer told a crowd at the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Jagger never goes out of style, except maybe in this weird ’80s video
Here’s a pop-culture stray thought to start off your week. Look at this snippet from a recent Tampabay.com article: All hail Mick’s hips. At 68, Michael Philip Jagger is the hottest — or at least the oldest — sex symbol of the summer. Not one, but two current radio hits celebrate the wiry, wiggly, prominently […]